


Acute Angles

by easternepiphany



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, no love triangles here!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-08
Updated: 2016-04-08
Packaged: 2018-05-31 22:25:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6489739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/easternepiphany/pseuds/easternepiphany
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cisco is the eyes and the ears. Too bad he doesn't see (or hear) this one coming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Acute Angles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [usoverlooked](https://archiveofourown.org/users/usoverlooked/gifts).



The second time STAR Labs is responsible for blowing up Central City is both better and worse than the first time.

Better because the man who is ultimately responsible is dead. Dr. Wells is dead—Eobard Thawne is dead—and gone and history, hasta la vista, baby, so long. The city doesn’t villainize STAR Labs, but spends that time and energy worshipping the Flash, and rightfully so. And there is something comforting about knowing the exact science behind what happened and why and how to fix it.

But, oh god, it’s so much worse.

Eddie is dead and Ronnie is dead. Iris puts up a good front but her voice breaks on every fifth word. Barry withdraws and disappears for hours and days at a time. And Caitlin…

Cisco doesn’t see Caitlin on a Thursday for the first time he’s known her. Thursday night is movie night. Or binge-TV night. That is non-negotiable; it had been something they had started with Ronnie, back when Cisco first started at STAR Labs. The thing about hanging out with Caitlin and Ronnie was that they never made Cisco feel like a third wheel, and he liked that about them. There was always take-out and some sort of alcohol (beer if it was Cisco’s turn to choose, tequila for Ronnie (those nights were always hazy and full of Friday morning hangovers), and something fruity and delicious for Caitlin). The first Thursday after Ronnie’s supposed death, Caitlin knocked on Cisco’s door with tacos in one hand and a bottle of Arbor Mist in the other and asked in a watery voice if they could please watch  _ Pocahontas _ .

But that second first Thursday, Cisco sits at home with a giant pizza, extra pineapple—Caitlin’s favorite—and pre-mixed margaritas. Caitlin never shows.

Being a part of Team Flash, saving the city and doing good and stopping metahumans, that was the best thing Cisco has ever done. They were a team, a family, the three of them—plus Joe, plus Eddie, plus Iris, plus Ronnie, plus Dr. Stein. Cisco was on top of the world every day.

Until he isn’t anymore.

He spends a lot of time at the Wests’, eating ice cream with Iris and hoping that Barry will come home and want to talk. He becomes co-chair of the CCPD Metahuman Task Force and becomes a regular fixture at the station. He sleeps some nights on the couch in Iris and Eddie’s apartment, because Iris doesn’t want to be there alone, but she also doesn’t like the idea of Eddie’s things sitting there abandoned. He grows a little bitter.

“Barry should be here, not me,” he says one night as he unrolls the blanket from its spot on the floor. “Not that I don’t want to be. But you need him more than you need me.”

Iris shrugs. “Barry will be here when he’s ready. Besides, you need someone, too.”

And he does; but Cisco would much rather take care of others than be taken care of himself. He thinks of all the things Caitlin could use right now: a home-cooked meal, a giant glass of wine, a weekend away from Central City. His shoulder for her to cry on.

Cisco sees the way Iris checks her phone every so often, the way she tries her hardest to get Barry to stick around Joe’s house when he’s on his way out the door. Cisco gets it. He would do the same to Caitlin, if she ever returned his phone calls. How can you comfort your best friend when they won’t let themselves be comforted?

It’s different this time, Cisco knows, because Ronnie was Caitlin’s husband. The word sticks in his brain, in his throat. A strange word, one that seems too real and adult to be in his vocabulary. It feels final somehow, a big, unsurmountable expanse that goes on and on, higher and higher.

Okay, Cisco never believed he had a chance with Caitlin. She was with Ronnie when he met her and engaged shortly afterward. He resigned himself to always being in love with her, and it was fine, as long as he could be her best friend. Cisco was like Barry that way; whenever Barry and Iris weren’t talking, Cisco would know, because Barry would have this face on, this kicked puppy face, and he would mutter a lot and speak in half-sentences. Cisco assumes that’s how he’s acting now, but he doesn’t dare ask Iris to confirm.

And then there’s the dreams: Cisco still has those nightmares, those daydreams, about Dr. Wells killing him. About Dr. Stein falling. About Barry’s dad driving away.

So, all in all, the second time STAR Labs blows up the city really is much worse than the first.

 

 

One night, after a long day of Cisco sketching out plans for a new tool to fight metahumans and Joe pretending to understand the science behind it, Cisco wants nothing more than a beer. Well, to be totally honest, he wants to get so drunk that he doesn’t remember the dream he had about Caitlin finding his body after Dr. Wells stuck his vibrating hand right through Cisco’s chest, and the way Caitlin screamed. But to get blackout wasted every time he doesn’t want to deal with his problems, well. That seems a bit unhealthy. So a beer it is.

“Wanna come eat?” Joe asks as he shrugs into his coat. “Iris is coming over with Indian.”

“Thanks, but I have an apartment that is in desperate need of cleaning,” Cisco says. It’s not a lie, but he highly doubts those dishes stacked in the sink are going to be washed tonight. “You spend some time with Iris, just the two of you.”

Joe nods and looks thoughtful. “You think she’s doing okay?”

“As okay as can be expected,” Cisco answers. “She’s tough.”

There’s a ghost of a sad smile on Joe’s face. “She is.”

So Cisco leaves the police station and heads to a bar on the very edge of town. There’s a basketball game on the TV and Cisco orders a beer and drinks half of it in one gulp, watching the back and forth of the ball. The point guard dribbles in an easy rhythm.

Someone slides into the seat next to him, he can see out of the corner of his eye, but he doesn’t turn to pay attention. He vaguely registers them signaling the bartender and ordering something; the bartender fills a glass with something clear—gin, vodka?—and the home team coach calls time-out after a 10-nothing run.

“You’re not even gonna buy a girl a drink?”

The voice is smooth and deep and familiar in the worst way. Cisco turns slowly and there she is, Lisa Snart, her hair draped over one shoulder and smelling like gold ( _ how is that even possible? _ ), a small smile on her red lips.

Cisco rolls his eyes and turns back to his beer. “I think if anyone should by buying anyone a drink it should be you.”

Lisa laughs. “I’m a bit of an old-fashioned kind of lady, I’m afraid. Think the man should do the paying and all that.”

“Isn’t there some other poor sucker you can trick into doing your dirty work for you?” he bites.

“I’m sure there is,” she says, still smiling. “But I like you best.”

There’s a stupid horrible part of Cisco’s heart that skips a little. He takes another gulp of beer, finishes the other half. He needs to order some nachos, stat.

“I’ve been thinking about you a lot, you know,” Lisa continues lowly. “Have you been thinking about me?”

Yes, Cisco thinks automatically: the way her mouth molded to his, the feel of her hair between his fingers. It’s biology, he tells himself. Nothing but dumb old biology. She’s a very attractive woman and it’s been a very long time since Cisco has spent a night with anyone but his pillow. It’s only to be expected.

Lisa places a hand on his forearm. It burns. “Cisco?”

“You’re a rogue,” he says finally. “And I’m one of the good guys.”

“So it’s a Romeo and Juliet sort of thing. My favorite.”

“What are you even doing here?” he blurts out before he can stop himself.

Lisa cocks her head to the side and studies him for a minute, as if he’s a particularly challenging physics problem. “You want to get out of here?”

Caitlin took a job at Mercury Labs. Cisco only knows because he ran into her mother in the grocery store and she told him. Barry stopped a bank robbery all alone last week. Cisco was once his eyes and ears.

“We’re stopping at Big Belly Burger first,” he says as he grabs his coat off the back of his chair.

 

 

Lisa is gone before Cisco’s alarm goes off the next morning. Which is early, which means she sneaked out somewhere between falling asleep at three in the morning and the six-forty-five pre-alarm roll over. Villains very likely don’t need much sleep, Cisco thinks, with all the nefarious things they're out there doing. 

Superhero sidekicks, Cisco’s hangover reminds him, do.

He gets to the police station half an hour later than usual, sunglasses and a giant extra-sweet iced coffee as his accessories. He’s sure he looks like death warmed over because he did manage to squint at his face in the mirror this morning (although the bathroom was dark because  _ light _ ...), a suspicion that is almost immediately confirmed.

“What the hell happened to you?” Joe asks with a laugh.

And of course it’s not just Joe, but Iris—perched on the top of his desk—and Barry—looking like he wants to run far, far away. Iris cocks her head to the side and smirks at Cisco in the way that she does when she’s putting the pieces together. 

“You smell like a Jack Daniels factory,” Barry says, scrunching his nose.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Cisco croaks in what he hopes is a dignified manner. “Let’s get to work.”

 

 

He gets to Iris’s at about six that night, and she’s throwing things into boxes. “I’d offer you a beer, but I don’t think you need one,” she says.

“What are you doing?” Cisco watches as she dumps a pile of books on top of a stack of magazines. It echoes with a thud. 

“I’m moving. Back home with Dad.” She doesn’t meet Cisco’s eyes as she says this, just gestures toward the living room behind her, which is a whirlwind of newspaper and packing tape. “You can’t camp out on my couch forever, and this way I can help Barry.”

“Who's going to help you?”

Iris bites her lip and stops taping. “Me. This is me helping me.”

Iris loves this apartment; she told Cisco so at least forty-seven times when he helped Eddie lug boxes up the stairs. Maybe, Cisco thinks, he hasn’t been as observant as the eyes and ears are supposed to be.

“I slept with Lisa Snart last night,” he blurts out, mostly because Iris’s eyes are a bit glassy and he knows she hates crying.

Her hands fly up to her mouth. “Please tell me you know two Lisa Snarts.”

Cisco shrugs. “Don’t you ever just want to do something to make things not suck so hard?”

Iris raises an eyebrow. “So should I go hook up with Captain Cold?”

“Smart-ass.” He swats her on the shoulder and she laughs. “Lisa is like, the hottest woman I’m ever going to sleep with. Don’t judge, okay?”

“Judge what?”

They both spin around and there’s Barry, holding a bag greasy with something that smells delicious. 

“Cisco slept with Lisa Snart!” Iris announces quickly and triumphantly. 

Barry’s face screws up and he sticks his tongue out. “Lisa Snart?!”

“Hey!” Cisco points a finger. “Did I ever judge your weird rooftop sessions?”

They both blush and turn away. 

“Exactly.”

 

Cisco has just finished unloading all of Iris’s boxes into her old room at Joe’s house 

(Eddie’s things were all packed away and taken over to his own parents’ home. They told Iris to keep whatever she wanted. She took three shirts, two books, and a pillow.)

as well as scarfing down too many helpings of Joe’s famous and delicious mac and cheese, when he climbs the stairs to his apartment and finds Lisa standing against the door.

“Hey,” she says.

“I’m out of whiskey.”

Lisa laughs and he hates how much he loves the way it sounds. “I’m not here for whiskey.” But there’s something about the way she says it that doesn’t sound like her usual self, something a bit hesitant, almost.

“What are you here for, then?”

Her shift from left foot to right is almost imperceptible. She’s squirming. Lisa Snart is squirming.

“Len’s being weird and I thought maybe, since we had some fun last time…”

“You like me,” Cisco says. He takes a step forward and she presses herself further against the door.

“I’ve told you that,” she replies with a smile.

“No.” He takes another step. “You  _ like _ me. You’re fighting with your brother so you came here, to  _ my _ apartment, because you want to hang out and get another piece of Cisco Ramon. Because you  _ like _ me.”

He reaches his arms out on either side of her and traps her against the door. She laughs again. “You’re a dork.”

“A dork you  _ like _ .” 

Lisa opens her mouth to protest, but it never makes it past her lips. Cisco, however, does.

 

 

It goes like that for the next two months. Cisco is back to living a double life, one where he has brunch at the Wests’ house on Sunday mornings and traces his tongue over Lisa’s skin on Tuesday nights. He grabs coffee with Iris on his lunch breaks and goes home to find Lisa standing against his door smirking, gone in the morning with nothing left but a rumple of sheets where she had been.

She comes and goes and comes and goes. Cisco tries to find a pattern to it, to plot and predict when she’ll show up and when she’ll leave. But there isn’t one: she’s there on Fridays and Mondays and one Thursday he comes home from work to find her already in his apartment, on the couch, painting her toenails.

There’s a heat wave at the end of August and they take refuge in front of the air conditioner, drinking extra-cold, extra-strong  _ coquitos _ for dinner and wearing as little clothes as possible. 

“How did you get this one?” Cisco asks, bumping his nose against a scar on her collarbone.

She shifts the tiniest bit and stares at the ceiling. “You don’t want to hear about that one.” 

This is a thing Lisa does, Cisco notices (and that he’s noticing her things? It should be weird but it isn’t), serious subjects do not get eye contact. Eye contact is for flirty, sexy statements. Serious things get told to the ceiling. 

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” He presses a kiss to the raised skin and trails over a little. “I have a scar on my leg from the particle accelerator. A shard of something, glass, maybe, got lodged into my leg and I was bleeding everywhere but I didn’t even notice until I got home the next day and my one pant leg was covered in blood.”

“My dad is not a nice person,” she says quietly. 

Cisco holds his breath for a minute. “He’s in jail now, isn’t he?”

“How did you know that?” Lisa asks.

“You said it, to your brother. That first time you kidnapped me.”

Lisa smirks. “That was the only time I kidnapped you.”

“I’m accounting for any future incidents,” Cisco says.

“You remembered that, though? That I said that?” She’s speaking quietly again, in that tiny voice that can’t possibly belong to her. It must be someone else’s. She’s stolen it, Little Mermaid-style.

“I don’t know if you know this—“ he scoots down a little, his mouth on her side, on her stomach, on her hip “—but there’s something a little unforgettable about you.”

Lisa laughs and the quiet voice disappears.

 

 

And then. 

Caitlin shows up.

There’s a knock at the door one evening, just after Cisco has gotten home from the police station, where he saw Barry, and Barry only laughed half-heartedly at Cisco’s jokes, and Joe watched Barry as if he was a bomb about to go off and.

Cisco is tired, and Lisa has been gone for a week

(Not that… he’s not like, pining after her or anything. It was nice to have her around. She’s surprisingly funny and easy to talk to and then there was that thing she did with her tongue and her bottom lip.)

and he’s lonely, if he’s honest. And being honest with himself, that’s something he wants to be now, honest with himself, because it’s just him now, no more Team Flash, no more STAR Labs, no more.

Anyway, so when Cisco answers the door, the last thing he expects to find is Caitlin Snow, biting her lip uncertainly and holding a six-pack of beer.

“Um, hi,” she says, only it’s more like a question. “It’s Thursday so I thought... if you’re not busy…”

Caitlin Snow does not speak in sentence fragments. She speaks with purpose, clearly and articulately. She also only drinks beer as a last resort.

Cisco must be too stunned to say anything, because he doesn’t, and Caitlin opens her mouth and makes that face she makes when she’s trying to be gentle, trying to assert herself but also be accommodating. (It's a subtle face, but Cisco has enough experience staring at Caitlin’s face to really get it.) 

“If you want me to leave, I can, I know I’ve been…”

“Don’t you dare,” Cisco finally says, and takes a step forward to wrap her in a hug. She smells like Caitlin, like baby powder and the first day of school. “God, Caitlin.”

“I’m so sorry. I’ve been—”

“No apologizing,” he says into her hair. “Not to me, okay?”

She squeezes and then pulls away. “Okay.”

They watch  _ Mulan _ and Caitlin falls asleep before the Huns are defeated, her head on Cisco’s shoulders.

 

 

“So let me get this straight,” Iris says as she stirs her coffee, “you’ve had either Lisa Snart or Caitlin Snow sleeping at your apartment every night for the last two months?  _ Damn _ , Ramon. See what happens when you’re not crashing on my couch anymore?”

“Okay, first of all, it’s not  _ every night _ . And Caitlin’s only slept over twice, because she’s fallen asleep. On my couch. In the living room. In a different room from where I sleep.”

Iris raises an eyebrow and he knows she’s not buying any of his shit. 

Their new coffee haunt is not as good as Jitters, which still lies in ruins. Cisco heard a rumor that businesses across Central City were being mysteriously and quickly rebuilt at night. If the pattern remains, Barry should be at Jitters by next week. Cisco’s coffee is too weak, and he can’t help but be glad that Barry’s misplaced guilt is at least going to be good for something.

“What’s the plan?”

“What do you mean?” Cisco asks.

An eye roll, and then: “I  _ mean _ that you’re basically dating two girls at once, one of whom happens to be your recently-widowed best friend, and the other is a criminal whose brother has kidnapped about a half-dozen people close to you. What are you going to do?”

“I’m not  _ dating _ either one of them. Lisa is just someone who… comes over every so often and eats my food and uses all the good shampoo. And occasionally has sex with me. And Caitlin is my best friend who is going through a lot right now, and we hang out. Like friends do.”

“You’re a mess,” Iris says happily. “And I like it. Makes me feel a lot better about myself.”

“I’m definitely canceling Tuesday afternoon coffee next week,” Cisco grumbles.

 

 

“Can I ask you something?” 

Cisco looks up from the Japanese take-out menu, where he’s trying to decide between ramen and udon. “Of course. What’s up?”

Caitlin wrings her hands together for a second and takes a deep breath. “I have this theory, and I think it’s pretty crazy, but I need to run it by someone.”

“Is it about noodles? Because I’m having a really tough time picking what I want to eat, and if we could solve this with science, that would be so much better.”

“It’s about Ronnie.”

“Oh.” Cisco folds up the menu and puts it back on the coffee table. “Okay, go.”

She folds her legs up beneath her. “Do you believe in fate?”

Cisco doesn’t really want to talk about how Caitlin and Ronnie are meant to be together by all the stars in the sky, and how he’ll come back to her a second time, no matter how badly he wants Caitlin to feel better. So he shrugs in some noncommittal gesture.

“I know there’s no such thing. I mean, scientifically, it doesn’t make any sense. But Ronnie died twice.  _ Two times _ . In roughly similar ways and circumstances. So, do you think that maybe, somehow, he was  _ supposed _ to die all along? I spent so long believing that Ronnie and I were perfect for each other. And maybe we were. But maybe it was always going to be a little while perfect instead of forever perfect.”

Cisco waits, watches her face to look for tears or even a shoulder slump. But she stays steady, calm. This is Dr. Snow. This is a hypothesis. 

“I think,” Cisco says slowly, “that Ronnie loved you a hell of a lot. And that you’ve gone through things no one should have to go through. And that you’re tough.”

She smiles, small at first, but then wider and wider and it’s a full Caitlin Snow smile, sparkling and warm. Cisco could compliment her forever if it meant seeing that smile. He could get real creative, he thinks:  _ you are the reason why birds sing, the tide is the moon trying to get closer to you. _

She sits on the couch next to him and burrows into his side a bit. “I want ramen,” she whispers as she takes his hand.

“Ramen it is, then.” He squeezes softly, reassuring.

 

 

So for the next few weeks, life goes back to somewhat normal: Cisco goes to early-morning yoga class with Caitlin, they meet up with Iris for lunch, they try and get Barry to join them for Tuesday afternoon coffee (it’s successful once, which Cisco counts as a victory). Caitlin comes over on Thursday nights and they drink their way through all the flavors of Smirnoff Ice. 

Blue raspberry is undisputedly the best.

Lisa is still M.I.A., but Cisco thinks that’s okay. He’s not sure he can explain her presence to Caitlin the way he did to Iris; the last time Caitlin and Lisa were in the same room together there was a hint of what Cisco tried to convince himself wasn’t jealousy, mostly because his heart couldn’t handle the reality. But still, better safe than sorry.

And everything is finally slotting itself back into place, Iris and Caitlin help him and Professor Stein clean up the mess that is STAR Labs, and Professor Stein gives Cisco advice about what to do about his stupid vibes. The city is planning a huge ceremony for The Flash, to give him the key to the city, and Cisco and Joe get ready to patrol and protect; nothing is more likely to draw metahumans to the town square quite like a celebration for the man taking them all down. 

Cisco, Caitlin, and Iris are all taking bets on whether or not Barry is actually going to show up to Flash Day. Or, more accurately, if  _ The Flash _ is going to show up to Flash Day. Talking about it at Sunday brunch just leads to Barry inventing work waiting for him at the lab, so even Joe gives up after a while. 

“Maybe I should talk to him,” Caitlin says a few nights before Flash Day. “He blames himself for Ronnie and Eddie, doesn’t he? He shouldn’t. I should tell him that.”

“It never hurts to try,” Cisco replies. Then, more carefully: “Is it going to be hard to be there, celebrating a bad day like that?

She shrugs exaggeratedly, proving she doesn’t really mean it. “We’re celebrating Ronnie, too, in a way. No one can know what he did, and sometimes I really hate that. But he saved the city, too. He was a hero.”

“We all are, in a way, aren’t we?”

“Even me?”

Cisco snorts. “Uh,  _ yeah _ . Are you kidding me right now? Would this world even still be standing if it wasn’t for you? Caitlin, you’ve saved the day like a billion times. You deserve to be lauded as a hero just as much as Barry or Ronnie.”

He doesn’t know why he says it—and so emphatically at that—because it’s something he’s always thought and always admired about her this past year or so, especially. But he says it and she looks at him a bit funny and suddenly he wants to backtrack and dial down the awe just a tiny bit. 

And he’s just about to open his mouth and detract—maybe add Iris and Joe in there, too—when she leans over and kisses him.

Cisco sees: Caitlin, with blonde hair and long, dark nails, pointing as the room around her freezes.

Cisco sees: Caitlin, sleeping next to him, the sheets pulled up to her chest and a faint smile on her face.

Cisco sees: Caitlin, manning the computers at STAR Labs, speaking frantically into the mic to Barry.

One thing that has happened, one thing that could happen, one thing that would never happen? Cisco can’t place the first vision (nor the second, of course) but the third is something he’s seen millions of times. And which one could happen and which one never would? Caitlin as a metahuman? Caitlin with the power to turn everything to ice the way Captain Cold’s gun does? 

Then Cisco realizes that he’s kissing Caitlin Snow, that her tongue is in his mouth, and  _ whoa _ if this is not something he’s wanted for years.  _ Go away _ , he tells the vibes frantically,  _ please just go the fuck away, this is not the time _ .

Caitlin pulls away abruptly and shakes her head. “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have—“

Ah. Of course. This is the part where she tells him kissing him was a giant mistake and she loves him, but just as a friend—or worse, a  _ brother _ —and it’s awkward for the next ten minutes before they start the movie and she leaves as soon as the credits roll.

“—shouldn’t have just  _ ambushed _ you like that, god, I  _ threw myself _ at you and I don’t even know if you wanted it and—“

“Did you?” Cisco asks quietly.

“Did I what?” There’s still a crease between her eyebrows, one he wants to smooth out with his thumb.

“Did you want it?”

She bites her lip and nods, eyes trained on the floor. 

“Do it again.”

She looks confused for a minute but then leans forward. Her lips touch his, slowly at first, but then he frames her waist with his hands and she moves even closer. 

“I think I have a crush on you,” she mumbles into his mouth.

“Stop talking,” he says with a laugh.

 

 

Vibe number two: Caitlin, asleep in his bed. She’s curled on her side, eyelashes fluttering every so often. REM sleep. She’s wearing Cisco’s t-shirt, a blue one. The vibe, but distorted just a bit. 

_ I made out with Caitlin _ , Cisco texts Iris, mostly because he feels the need to document this moment, just in case it’s a dream.

Iris sends back a string of shifty-eye emojis along with a lot of exclamation points. Cisco reminds himself to check his phone for this evidence in the morning.

 

 

Caitlin is a terrible cook. Cisco has known this for years and yet when she tells him she wants to make him dinner, he still says yes. Mostly because she gets this excited goofy grin on her face and also because when he arrives at her apartment, she’s wearing this frilly apron over her dress. There’s a flour smudge on her cheek and everything smells like burning.

“Hi!” She has a forced smile plastered on her face as she tugs him inside. “I’m making pot roast!”

Cisco drops a quick kiss on her lips. “Pot roast, huh? I can’t wait. I brought wine.”

“Oooh, open that!” Caitlin points toward the cupboard where the glasses are as she stirs something on the stove that might be gravy. “Dinner will be ready soon.”

Cisco pours two glasses (a little more than probably necessary) and smiles as he watches Caitlin finish up the meal. Maybe for other people, this wouldn’t work, this sudden hooking up with your widowed best friend without having any sort of conversation about what it all  _ means _ . But so far, it’s been working. Cisco holds Caitlin’s hand as they walk into restaurants and she meets him on their lunch breaks and they sleep with their legs tangled. They talk about work and science and movies and everything they’ve always talked about. 

Something will break eventually, that horrible voice in the back of Cisco’s head says, and he thinks of that first vibe, of Caitlin turning everything to ice, that horrible look in her eyes. Cisco pushes that voice away as much as he can.

“Taste this.” She shoves a spoonful of something steaming into his face. His phone buzzes in his pocket before the spoon gets to his mouth. 

“Hang on one sec.” He fishes the phone out and puts it to his ear; it’s a number he doesn’t recognize. “Hello?”

“Cisco? It’s Captain Singh at CCPD. We got a call about a break-in, and the address sounded familiar, so I decided to check it out, and—“

“And what?” 

Caitlin frowns as she watches, a crease forming between her eyebrows.

“It was your apartment. One of your neighbors saw someone picking the lock on your door and called the station. Only, the perp says she knows you.”

“She?” Cisco repeats, although it’s mostly for naught. He knows who it is. His stomach sinks a little bit as he stares at Caitlin, still holding the spoon in the air. 

He had thought, like an idiot, that these were parallel tracks, that they would never meet. But they’re about to intersect messily and publicly. He thanks the Captain and his mouth goes dry.

“Someone tried to break into my apartment.”

“Oh my god, was it a metahuman? A burglar?”

Cisco takes the spoon from her hands and shoves it in his mouth, burning his tongue on what is probably supposed to be gravy but tastes like a pencil eraser. “It’s Lisa,” he chokes out as he swallows.

“Lisa? Lisa who?” Then her eyes widen like she’s in a damn comic book and Cisco wants to rewind the last twenty minutes, to come back in and drink wine and kiss her up against the fridge. “Lisa  _ Snart _ is breaking into your apartment? Well, let’s go! Should we call Barry? Her brother’s probably behind this, isn’t he?”

She starts turning knobs on the stove, everything to  _ off _ . “We can call Barry on the way over there. Although, he probably already knows. Maybe he’s there. I’m sure the Captain called Joe. We should call Iris, too, just to let her know that you’re okay. It’s so lucky you weren’t home. Who knows what she would have done to you! And again!”

“Cait.” He reaches out and takes her hand. “I have to tell you something.”

“Why are you not freaking out? Come on, we need to go!”

“I was sleeping with her, Cait, that’s why she was trying to get into my apartment. Because we were sleeping together whenever she was in town.”

She slowly places a lid back on a pot of not-yet-boiled potatoes. “Oh. Okay. Well, we should still get over there,” she says with forced nonchalance. “Clear everything up.”

 

 

Caitlin is quiet on the drive over. Cisco isn’t sure what to say, so he doesn’t say anything, just texts Iris a bunch of frantic all-caps freak-outs while trying to remain outwardly chill. Caitlin drives with her hands firmly on the 10 and 2 position, which is actually normal for her, but after a stoplight she slips to 9 and 3 and doesn’t seem to notice.

Cisco notices.

When they get to his apartment, there are two cop cars parked outside, and Lisa is handcuffed looking grumpy. But she also has a look on her face Cisco hasn’t seen before. She looks worried.

Lisa Snart doesn’t worry about the police. Something is wrong.

Cisco talks to Captain Singh, tells him there’s no need to press charges, and a beat cop uncuffs Lisa with a sneer. Iris and Joe pull up as all the cops pull away, and it’s only then that Cisco turns to Lisa.

“What happened?” 

She looks relieved that he noticed and rubs her right wrist with a pained expression. “Something happened to Lenny. He’s missing.”

Caitlin and Iris exchange glances. “No offense,” Iris says, “but are you sure he just didn’t take off somewhere? It probably wouldn’t be the first time.”

“No,” Lisa says, eyes flashing. “This is different. We were at the house—we’re squatting at a house over on Lafayette—and something hit me over the back of the head. I was knocked out, and when I woke up, Lenny and Mick were both gone. The furniture was all overturned. Lenny’s not answering his phone. Something happened to him, I know it.”

“We can file a missing persons report…” Joe starts.

“Lenny doesn’t just up and go. Not from me. I need… I need help. I need you guys to call the Flash.”

Cisco catches Iris’s eye. She nods, almost imperceptibly. “Okay. We’ll call the Flash.”

 

 

The air in STAR Labs smells stale. It used to smell like leftover burritos and that perfume Caitlin always wears. But now, as Cisco boots up the computers, everything echoes strangely, as if the place hasn’t been touched in years. In reality, he and Stein and Iris were there last week. But still.

But Cisco is at his station. He’s got the computer hooked up to Barry’s suit and he’s running a heat sensor over the city and he’s guiding Barry along. Caitlin is tracking Barry’s vitals. Iris and Joe are watching. Professor Stein is running calculations. 

Oh, and Lisa Snart is there. 

“Okay Ba—Flash, according to this, Snart should be inside a building on the corner of Vine and Twelfth.”

Cisco shoots a glance over at Lisa, who bites her lip, just a little, just the smallest amount. When he catches her eye she smiles and throws a wink, but it’s half-hearted. She’s scared. 

Barry’s comm goes out for a minute—a slow, long minute—but when he gets back on the news contains no relief:

“Snart’s fine. He’s uh. Lisa, he’s with your father.”

 

 

If this were any other town, Lisa would be wrong about her brother. Leonard would be teaming up with his father because that’s what villains do, they villainize. 

Or, this would be an elaborate trap, and Lisa would pull out the golden gun and turn them all to precious metal.

Or, this wouldn’t be happening at all, and Cisco would be choking down Caitlin’s horrendously-cooked pot roast.

But this is Central City, and so there is a bomb in Lisa Snart’s head.

 

 

_ My dad is not a nice person _ , Lisa told him once. Because what kind of psycho puts a bomb in his own daughter’s head? Cisco is torn between feeling scared and so angry, he half wants to go out there and take down Lewis Snart himself, despite what an awful bad idea that would be.

Lisa sits very still, as if movement will set the bomb off. “Barry, you need to go back to Lenny. Make sure he’s safe, okay? Please?”

Barry zooms off and the lab is quiet, so quiet, until Caitlin says, “You said ‘Barry.’”

“I figured it out a long time ago. You guys aren’t as mysterious as you believe you are.” A smirk plays over her lips, one familiar and pretty. 

Cisco lets out a huff of air in a shaky laugh. “Busted.”

“I’ll go back Barry up,” Joe says. His fingers play over the holster of his gun, and he eyes Cisco then Caitlin then Iris in turn. They each nod and with a final look to Lisa, he leaves.

“We need to figure out how to deactivate the bomb without detonating it.” Caitlin’s fingers fly over the keyboard and Iris hovers over her shoulder, watching.

“I need some air,” Lisa almost-whispers. She gets up and heads out, the same way Barry did, the same way Joe did.

“Cisco, that’s your cue to follow her.” Caitlin doesn’t look up from the computer as she says this, but there’s no malice in her voice.

Iris tuts, “Really Cisco, that would be a total dick move if you didn’t.” But she gives him a half-smile and so he listens.

Lisa is leaning against the side of the building, grinding the toe of her boot into the dirt. “You’re with her now, aren’t you?”

“Not really. But kind of.” Cisco takes the place next to her, close enough to where he can feel the pull of her skin, but far enough away to give her the chance to move. Lisa is—has always been—somewhat of a feral cat; Cisco knows to give her room to breathe, space to come closer.

“ _ Please _ , you’ve been in love with her since forever.”

“Are you— _ jealous _ ?”

Lisa scoffs half-heartedly. “I’m jealous that she isn’t about to blow to smithereens because of her asshole father.”

Cisco extends his hand and she takes it, squeezes his fingers. 

“Lenny raised me, basically. He was in juvie for a while but then by the time he got out… it was always him and Mick picking me up from school or beating up my boyfriends. Helping me with my damn math homework. Defending me from my father. I’m not saying that Lenny is perfect. But he’s a good brother. He’s the only person who’s been there for me always, no matter what. If he gets hurt—“

“He won’t.” Cisco squeezes back. “Barry’s good at protecting people. He’ll make sure your brother is okay.”

Lisa laughs hollowly. “I can’t believe I told you all of that stuff.”

“I told you, you  _ like _ me, remember?”

He tugs on her hand until she’s closer, until he can lean over and kiss her. “We’re going to fix this.”

“How are you so good?”

The door opens and Iris pokes her head out. “Cisco? I think we found something.”

 

 

“I gotta say, this isn’t the way I imagined you having a gun pointed to my head.”

Cisco laughs despite himself. “That’s not funny.”

“I know,” Lisa preens. “But I like it when you smile.”

“Lisa?” 

Caitlin has a hair clip in one hand and she gestures toward Lisa’s hair. “Can I?”

Lisa nods, surprised, and Caitlin carefully pins back the left side of Lisa’s hair. “If this doesn’t work, we’ll make sure your brother is safe, okay?”

Lisa doesn’t answer, but they all know that’s answer enough.

“I’ll count,” Iris says. Her voice is steady, because she’s the calmest under pressure. Cisco has never been happier for her to be part of the team.

“One.”

Cisco steadies the gun against Lisa’s head. She takes a breath and holds it, eyes closed.

“Two.” 

Caitlin catches Cisco’s eye. His finger tightens on the trigger and she nods. He sees it then: the two of them, sitting on his couch, each holding a beer. Caitlin’s laughing, and Cisco’s watching. She gets up and leaves the apartment. That’s when he knows he’s always going to love her, but they’ll never be together. They’ll be partners in anti-crime and she’ll be his best friend but that’s it. It’s okay. He wants to cry.

“Three.”

_ Click _ . 

“It worked,” Caitlin whispers.

 

 

Unlike their last mission, there’s surprisingly little fallout after it’s all said and done. Okay, so Lewis Snart is dead and Leonard Snart is in jail. Considering the fact that the city is still standing, Cisco doesn’t think it’s so bad.

He’s not sure if Lisa agrees, because she runs off as soon as the bomb is out and Barry tells them what happened to Lewis. Cisco isn’t offended, though; she needs to check on Leonard way more than she needs to sit around and talk to Cisco.

Then everything  _ really _ goes back to sort-of normal: Barry shows up at Flash Day and gets the key to the city  _ but also _ a coffee named after him at the newly-reopened Jitters, which—Iris and Cisco both emphatically believe—is way better than any dumb symbolic key. Saving Lisa (and Captain Cold) seems to boost Barry out of his hole, and he’s sheepishly waiting at STAR Labs before Caitlin and Cisco even get there the next morning.

Cisco has a good feeling about all of it, a good vibe. Team Flash, back together again, saving the city and stopping metahumans (and other villains). Cisco thinks they should get business cards. 

Barry is also officially inducted into Tuesday afternoon coffee breaks. “I’m sorry for being sort of a dick these last few months. I should have been there for you guys. It wasn’t right, and I’m going to make it up to you.”

“Damn straight you are,” Cisco says, slapping the table. “You can buy us all a round of Flashes!”

Iris leans in close. “I think he was talking to me and Caitlin.”

“Tell you what,” Barry says, “Cisco, I’ll buy you a Flash anyway.”

Caitlin comes over to his apartment after work on Thursday, burgers and fries in hand. “I know you wanted to watch  _ Star Wars _ again, but I’m feeling Audrey Hepburn-ish today.”

Cisco gestures toward the TV, where  _ Breakfast at Tiffany’s _ is already queued up on the screen. “I know. You tweeted it earlier.”

She smiles and places a hand on his arm. “Can we talk first?”

He thinks that maybe a week ago, this would have given him a fit of anxiety. Maybe it was the vibe of the two of them being okay. Maybe it was Lisa. Or maybe it was the fact that he now knows what it is to love Caitlin Snow, to love her in every way possible. A break-up is coming, but he’s not going to lose her.

“I wasn’t lying, you know,” she says.

“About what?”

A smile plays at her mouth. “About having a crush on you. I think I always have.”

He tips his head playfully. “You’re not the first, babe.”

“You’re my best friend and you’re there for me in a way that no one else will ever be. And maybe one day… But for now, I think I need a little more time to heal. When I lost Ronnie the first time, I don’t think I did that properly, and then I threw myself into Team Flash, and it was a good thing and I love it, but I didn’t take the time to really understand what it meant for Ronnie to be gone and for me to be here. And now, I need that. I need to be me for a little while, alone. I don’t regret being with you these last few weeks. But I’m going to keep my job at Mercury Labs, and I’m going to still help you and Barry, and I’m going to get to know myself a little. See who Caitlin is without the ‘and’ after her name.”

Cisco brings her hand to his lips and kisses her knuckles. “This is the best way I’ve ever been broken up with. And I mean that wholeheartedly. You are one tough cookie, Caitlin Snow.”

“I have you to keep me that way.” She cups his cheek for a minute before folding her hands on her lap, business-like. “So! Should we invite Barry and Iris to Thursday nights now?”

“Are you kidding me? Those two knuckleheads have to  _ earn _ Thursday nights. For now they are strictly a Caitlin and Cisco thing.”

“A Caitlin and Cisco thing,” she echoes, grinning. “I like that.

 

 

When Cisco gets home that night, he could not be any less surprised to find Lisa sitting on the floor against his door. She has a bottle of vodka in hand. “Hi,” she says, looking up from her seat.

“Hi. How’s your brother?”

“In jail, for now.” She pushes herself up and hands him the bottle. “Here, for you. A thank you, I guess.”

“Is it really for me if you’re going to drink half of it?” 

“I’m not staying,” she says, and he hides his disappointment. “Mick is in Ivy Town and I’m going to meet him there. Gotta break Lenny out of Iron Heights and all that.”

“You know I work for the CCPD, right?”

Lisa smirks and shrugs. “You’re not a cop. And besides, what are you going to do, tell on me?”

Cisco shakes his head and pretends to inspect the vodka bottle. “You doing okay?”

“Roll with the punches, you know? When I was little, that’s what Lenny used to say to me. It was his way of trying to pretend nothing bothered him.” She smiles sadly. “For a thief, he’s a terrible liar.”

“You can come back, if you want. Whenever.”

She holds up a keyring. “I made myself a key.”

“I shoulda pressed charges.” He tugs on her belt loop until she’s flush against him and presses his mouth to hers. It might be the last time he does this—for a while, anyway—and he wants to memorize the way it feels.

It feels like everything is going to be okay.

“Goodbye, Cisco.” She says it quietly, like she doesn’t want him to hear.

“Bye, Lisa.” He presses a final kiss to her temple and then she’s gone, down the stairs and out the door. Cisco stands in the hall for a minute, listens to her motorcycle start up and zoom down the street before going inside.

  
  
  
  



End file.
